Good Eats: Southwest Tilapia with pineapple-mango salsa

I love seafood.  Honestly, we don't incorporate it into our cooking as much as we should, but I saw this gem on pinterest I decided to give it a shot!  We already enjoyed the parmesan-crusted tilapia that we cooked, which you can find our recipe on the blog here. 

Anyways, We love spicy southwestern-style food, so I knew we should give this one a try.  I paired it with a simple pineapple-mango "salsa" to compliment the spicy flavors of the heated tilapia with the cool, sweet textures and flavors of the fruit.  It was a risky combo, but I thought it may work.... and I think it did!!!

For a side, we used a simple bean, corn, tomato, avocado salad that I threw together last minute for the flavors, colors, and veggies.

Ingredients:

3-4 tilapia filets

2-3 Tbsp EVOO

2 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp onion powder

1 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

rice, optional

 

For the salsa: Mix together your favorite canned (drained) pineapple (I used crushed--so it had the consistency of applesauce) and chop up a fresh mango.  Mix together, sprinkle in a heavy shake of chili powder and the smoked paprika to give it a little kick. And that's it :)

Preparation:

1. Combine spices in a small bowl, mix well

2. Place tilapia on plate and divide spice mixture amongst the filets. (top side only)

3. Heat EVOO over medium-high heat in the skillet.  Place tilapia filets in the pan, spice side down.  Cook without moving for 4 minutes.

4.  Turn over filets and cook an additional 4-5minutes.

5. Serve over rice and top with the salsa!

 

I really liked the spicy flavor of the fish. I also love that it took 15 minutes to make! (come on now...preparing rice takes longer than that)... It's a perfect, healthy, flavorful fix for the midweek "Oh my goodness I don't want to spend hours in the kitchen tonight...dilemma. 

 

Enjoy, Y'all,

Virginia